Maybe the success of Saving Private Ryan, which in content, if not
style, is a classic war movie, will prompt the revival of some
war-movie subgenres, such as the prisoner-of-war movie. Billy Wilder's
Stalag 17 of 1953 set very high standards -- but The Great Escape comes
close dramatically, and in terms of scale and scope, surpasses Wilder's
great entry. And unlike Wilder's sardonic tale, The Great Escape is one
of the best-loved war movies ever made. Even today, more than 35 years
after it was made, it's easy to find people who will declare it their
favorite movie. Seeing it again shows why it has achieved such
long-lasting fame.

This is the prisoner-of-war movie as epic, with a huge cast, elaborate
sets and an epic-length running time of two minutes under three hours.
John Sturges, who produced and directed, was at the peak of his fame
and abilities when he made this outstanding movie, and although it's
clearly an artifact of its time, it's so well made, with such an
engrossing story and appealing characters that it's as close to
timeless as a movie like this can be. Working from the book by Paul
Brickhill, James Clavell and W.R. Burnett crafted a well-structured
screenplay; the characters are directly presented, well-delineated, and
treated scrupulously fairly. Even the German commandant, who tends to
sympathize with his prisoners, is presented honestly.

The Germans were plagued by escape attempts from their prisoner of war
camps, particularly by the highly-motivated British, that they placed
all their most troublesome escapees (mostly from the RAF) in one
well-guarded camp. This, of course, wasn't really a very good idea,
since 600 of the prisoners immediately started scheming on a way to
break out -- but to break out en masse. Ultimately, on the night of
March 24, 1944, 76 prisoners did manage to escape, the largest mass
escape of World War II. The movie tells of the events leading up to the
escape, and what happened afterward. There is some historical fudging
-- few if any Americans were really in the camp, there was no
motorcycle chase or plane theft, etc. -- but basically the film tells,
in broad strokes, a fascinating true story.

Sturges cast a few of his stars from The Magnificent Seven -- Steve
McQueen, Charles Bronson and James Coburn -- and James Garner was added
for star value, but the rest of the cast is authentically British, and
very good. Richard Attenborough and James Donald are both particularly
fine, and Donald Pleasence brings an air of authenticity -- he really
was a prisoner of war in World War II -- although his role has the
phoniest elements. McQueen seems kind of shoehorned into the movie,
with his character spending much of his time in solitary, bouncing a
baseball against the wall, but he's still the actor people remember
most from this movie, because of his sheer star power, a study in
subdued flamboyance.

Aside from presenting the entire film uncut (thanks to dual-layer
printing) in its full wide-screen glory, the best aspect of the DVD is
the excellent documentary on the making of the film, prepared by Steve
Rubin and others as a labor of sheer love. Among other things, it
reveals that the motorcycle chase, which McQueen insisted be added to
the film, is mostly a matter of McQueen as the prisoner being chased by
McQueen as a German soldier. The other features, such as a trivia list
and production notes, are welcome, but the documentary makes this an
especially attractive package.

more details

sound format:

Dolby Digital

aspect ratio(s):

letterboxed

special features:

French,
Spanish and English subtitles; scene selection; trivia and production
notes; trailer; documentary on the making of the movie